


Nemeses

by killerweasel



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-18
Updated: 2012-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-19 00:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bit of Moriarty backstory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nemeses

Inspired by this [Jonthan Coulton song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX2eEICejB0).

Title: Nemeses  
Fandom: _Sherlock_  
Characters: Jim Moriarty  
Word Count: 500  
Rating: PG  
A/N: AU before _101 A Study in Pink_

 

Every good story needs a proper villain. Not one of those who exist purely for comedic purposes or the ones who blurt out their plan to the hero only to have said plan foiled shortly afterwards. No, what was needed was a proper, rotten to the core, not quite stable, smarter than your average person type of villain. It helped if the villain’s name sounded good in hushed whispers or if it were followed by a well-timed evil laugh.

As the stories in the criminal underground went, Moriarty was a mastermind wrapped so far in the shadows no one really knew what the man looked like. There were tales of how he got to be that way or of what had happened to make him turn into the monster people thought he was. They spoke his name the same way a child spoke of the bogeyman or about the creature that lived under their bed. But the best part was this man could hide in plain sight, pretending he was just as ordinary as everyone else, and no one knew who he really was until it was too late.

There was a time when Moriarty had done all the wet work himself. People needed to know exactly what he was capable of. Sure, he could have one of his minions do it so he kept his hands clean, but the act held more power if he were the one dishing out the pain, slicing into flesh, making people beg for mercy that wasn’t coming, or just cutting someone’s life short. It was very easy to kill someone. Keeping them alive though, that took skill. If he really needed to make a point, or to make an example of someone, he used all of his skills to do so.

He didn’t just have a network, he had web upon web of enterprises. The more tangled and complex the webs were, the harder it became for things to be traced back to him. People couldn’t inform on him because they didn’t have a clue who they really worked for. Depending on how high up the food chain they were, they might know his name, but that wasn’t enough for the authorities to do anything. Moriarty was a myth, a legend.

For a while, Jim enjoyed being the thing that went bump in the night, the person who made the skin of hardened criminals crawl, and a name which inspired fear. But as enjoyable as everything was, he would frequently find himself growing bored. He longed for a rival he could match wits with, someone who might actually be able to challenge him, someone to distract him from the things constantly buzzing in his head.

Then he discovered Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock was exactly who Jim was looking for, the perfect person to fill the void in his life. He wasn’t like everyone else, he wasn’t ordinary. They were a perfect match, consulting criminal against consulting detective.

The villain had finally found his hero.


End file.
